5. Women vanish during the Columbian Exposition
A large part of the Holmes legend is that the 1893 Columbian Exposition drew many young, single, women to the city of Chicago, attracted by both the prospects of meeting a potential spouse and the opportunity for work. Many of these women went to Chicago because the prospects in the small towns from which they came were limited, and many were unattached to strings tying them to their hometowns. One such woman was Emeline Cigrand, who was attracted to Holmes after taking a job in the Castle in May, 1892. In December of that year she disappeared, never seen again. Virginia Betts and Edna Van Tassel also vanished around the same time, both after accepting jobs in the Castle, and both after moving into the apartments above the businesses on the first floor. The Columbian Exposition had not yet begun, the White City was incomplete.
According to the legend byy the time of the Columbian Exposition Holmes had established his modus operandi. He advertised in newspapers for young women to work in his businesses and live in his building. He took out life insurance policies on all of his employees and residents. He also made it known to the young women who turned up at his door that he was in the market for a wife, despite already having one with whom he lived in the nearby suburb of Wilmette, Illinois, and another abandoned back east. As the Exposition drew young women to the city, Holmes drew them to his Castle, from which they would simply vanish, forgotten and unlooked for, at least for a time. In 1893 Holmes began to expand his criminal enterprise beyond murder and insurance fraud, taking on a partner by the name of Benjamin Pitezel.